A nation of Immigrants

By the time American independence was declared in 1776, two-fifths of
all settlers were of non-English origin. The first U.S. census, taken
in 1790, revealed a population of just under four million people, with
about 10,000 new settlers arriving each year. When the U.S.
government began keeping records of arriving passengers in 1820, the
majority of immigrants were from Northern Europe; by the end of the
19th century, they came largely from Southern and Eastern Europe.
Today, the majority arrive from Latin America and Asia. Their reasons
for coming, however -- opportunity and freedom -- remain unchanged.